For the first time ever the Cheesecake Burlesque Revue is coming to Fort McMurray, performing Saturday night at Keyano Theatre and offering a Sass Class 101 workshop on Friday night.
The performers say the art of burlesque has given them more confidence in their daily lives because of the fun they have on stage and that’s what they’re aiming to share with other women in the ladies only workshop.
The three-hour workshop, Sass Class 101: Unleashing Your Burlesque Diva, covers the history of burlesque, a stage-name for all performers, practice being a burlesque person, teaches movements including bump, grind, shimmy and shake, there is work with props including feather boas and leather gloves, tassel twirling and choreography.
“It’s super fun. It’s a great ladies night out,” said performer Champagne Sparkles, a member of the troupe which ranges in age from early 20’s to mid-40’s and women who come in all shapes and sizes.
“We’ve found, through Burlesque, we’ve gained more confidence in our everyday lives, we get to have a lot of fun on stage and we found that once that happened for us, we really wanted to share that with other women,” she said. “So, getting a chance to have a workshop and spend a few hours together is a chance to sort of try on this sassy persona and then internalize it and get a little bit more sparkle in your own life.”
The workshop is only the first half of the fun the Revue is bringing to Fort McMurray. The second half is the show on Saturday night where the troupe’s years of experience and globally recognized talent come together for an evening of entertainment unlike anything that has come to Keyano before. It’s typically a Vaudevillian style variety show with singing, dancing and comedy, all centred around the classic art-form of strip-tease.
“So we’ll be up there shaking our booties and our ta-tas for you,” said Sparkles.
Asked why that is so liberating she replied, “Number one it’s a heck of a lot of fun and, for us, having the chance to put ourselves on stage, we all really love performing, we have various talents and come from lots of different backgrounds, and we found that the audience just loves seeing regular women on stage.”
“Through mainstream media we’re really exposed to, kind of, the same kinds of bodies over and over and the audience can really connect with the chance to see a variety of different women on stage. So, somebody that they can perhaps relate to up there putting on a great show, having a tonne of fun, you know, people just laugh through the whole show. We’re really very comedy and humour based and we like to tell little stories on stage,” said Sparkles.
She said the audience can look forward to lots of singing and dancing and shaking and a chance to showcase their humour and realism.
“You are going to see jiggles and shakes and big smiles, lots of glitter and rhinestones and big feathers, we definitely like to glam it up there, too,” she said.
The workshop takes place at the Keyano Arts Centre Friday, January 15 at 7:00 p.m. and tickets are $25.
The Cheesecake Burlesque Revue show, which is rated R, is Saturday, January 16 at 8:00 p.m. and tickets are $40.
